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Welcome to OAKtober! Celebrate Across the Region

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Join Chicago Wilderness members across the Region in celebrating OAKtober. Governor Bruce Rauner has proclaimed the month of October Oak Awareness Month in Illinois.

As a keystone species, oaks are critically important to the Chicago Wilderness Region. Despite this, we have lost more than 80% of the original one million acres of oak ecosystems that occupied our region. That is the equivalent of more than 100,000 Soldier Fields.

Chicago Wilderness is leading a coordinated recovery effort to preserve, restore, and expand oak ecosystems across the region. Thanks to lead collaborators from Lake County Forest Preserves and The Morton Arboretum as well as funding from the USDA Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, Chicago Wilderness has launched an Oak Ecosystems Recovery Plan.